Not Ready To Make Nice
by AtomicKokoro
Summary: Mikki enters the joust for old times' sake with Zed and Roya. However, Slaguna appears without being called and causes Mikki to loses the round. He gets another chance when the Joust is restarted due to rain, but can he get control of Slaguna in time?


**Not Ready To Make Nice**

**By: Atomic Kokoro**

**Storyline**

Mikki enters the joust for old times' sake with Zed, Roya, and Noa. However, Slaguna appears without being called and causes Mikki to lose the round. He gets another chance when the Joust is restarted due to rain, but can he get control of Slaguna and Arumadoru in time for the next round?

**Before You Read**

Booooooreeeed and I have a writer's block for _In Fear of Destruction: The Black Light Operation_ so I thought I'd start up another while I figure out what to do next.

Anyways, I always figured Mikki and Slaguna would never really be on good terms with each other, especially since Dumas was dead. I thought I'd write a little fanfiction about it while writing _Black and White_, an Astro Boy 2003 Edition Fanfiction about racism. Yeah. Racism is _not_ cool!

On with the story!

…

**Chapter 1**

**Uncalled**

"Thank you for coming! Have a nice day!" Mikki flashed another one of his cute smiles as the customer left the shop. He sighed, the shop finally quiet after a regular rush hour. Mikki smiled to himself and decided to count how much money was in the till. He loved his job.

The bell rang and he looked up to find Zed and Roya deep in conversation. "And I said that I didn't care cause I had no clue what he was talking about, so he said, 'Watch your mouth, young man' and I said, 'You watch your words cause what you say is boring as hell' so he kicked me out and told me to go to the Principal's office. I just left campus and went home."

Roya chuckled. Mikki wasn't sure why but Roya loved it when Zed told her about the times he would go against the authorities. Maybe it made him seem like a _bad boy_. "Morning, Mikki," Roya smiled when she saw him at the till.

"Hey, Roya. How's it going?"

After the basic, every morning greeting (Zed needed not to say very much since both he and Mikki lived together and they often talked about their days over dinner), Mikki switched shifts with someone else and decided to take a walk with his two friends.

"Hey, Mikki," Zed began while they were having lunch at the nearby restaurant. "There's a joust coming up. Me and Roya are gonna enter, for old times' sake. Waddaya say? Wanna join us?"

Mikki swallowed what was in his mouth and shook his head. "No thanks," he said. "But I'll come watch you guys."

Roya frowned and twirled her fork on her plate. "C'mon, Mikki!" she insisted. "It'll be fun! Besides, you haven't gotten any exercise in a while..."

"Hey, what does that mean?" Mikki chuckled, knowing she was only joking.

"Okay, tell you what." Zed set his spoon into the empty bowl which once held chicken soup. "If you enter, I won't make fun of you for losing in the first battle in the first round..._by giving up_."

Mikki tilted his chin down in shame however it was difficult to keep a smile off his face. "C'mon, Zed! Don't bring that up!" The table broke into laughter, earning some stares from other customers. "Fine, fine. I'll enter. If it gets up off my back."

Zed and Roya gave each other a high give. Mikki just rolled his eyes.

…

A couple days passed and the day of the joust rolled around. The sky was a dull, dark gray, threatening to rain if it wasn't pleased with the results.

Mikki, Roya, and Zed sat around on the inside of where the Shard Casters waited for their turns, the introductions just beginning. "Excited, anyone?" Zed asked, tilting his head back in boredom.

Mikki didn't find the sarcasm and replied with a, "I'm nervous. What if I lose _again_ in the first round?"

Roya looked at the ceiling. "Well, _technically_, you didn't _lose_ in the first round, remember? Your opponent quit and you had to go onto the next round. _You_ didn't go on. _Zed_ did."

"Exactly why I lost the first round!" Mikki gasped.

Roya smiled when she realized her last idea didn't work. "Don't worry, Mikki. You'll do fine."

Mikki returned the gesture, deciding to just keep the worry to himself.

"First Round!" the announcer cried out when the introductions ended and the battling was beginning. "Kelvin versus Zed!" Zed pulled out his favorite blood red blade from the inside of his coat and readied himself for battle as his opponent did so, too. "Begin!"

Kelvin rushed forward, ready to strike with a sword identical to Zed's but blue instead. _He uses Water Shards,_ Zed thought to himself, parrying the enemies sword. Zed jumped back and pulled several Fire Shards from the back of his left hand.

Kelvin jumped back, pulled several Water Shards from his own Shard Caster's Mark, and sent them towards Zed's Fire Shards. Both colored Shards exploded and crashed into each other, canceling each other out in a brief second.

Zed rushed forward at the distracted Kelvin and knocked his blade from his hands. Zed reached up forward and pressed his sword against Kelvin's neck. Kelvin raised his hands and frowned. "I give up," he said.

The crowd roared in applause.

Zed returned to his friends, hands deep in his pockets. "That wasn't very exciting," he muttered.

"It's the first round," Roya chuckled. "What do you expect?"

Zed shrugged.

After a couple more battles, the boys noticed Roya disappeared and was preparing for her battle, which was next. They made their way to where they could see the battle field. "Begin!" yelled the announcer.

Roya and her opponent, Jay, charged at each other without a moment to spare. Swords and blades clashed, the sound echoing through the whole stadium. The crowd cheered with every strike.

Roya jumped back and reached for the Shard Caster's Mark on her neck. "Afkareru!" Jay quickly followed suit by casting his own Spirit, but by the time he returned his attention back to Roya, she had cornered him by a sai to the throat.

"Ugh," he growled. "I give up!"

Mikki cheered and yelled from where he was while Zed merely applauded. The crowd, however, burst with energy at the girl's win.

"Awesome!" Mikki cheered when Roya returned form the battle field. He gave her a high five while Zed congratulated her with a kiss on the cheek.

After a couple minutes of praising her, Zed turned to Mikki and smiled mischievously, "Isn't it your turn now?"

Mikki blinked once before realizing he was supposed to be getting ready for his fight on the field. When he made his way onto the stage, the announcer called, "Mikki versus Tasmind! Begin!" He immediately went for his yellow-bladed dagger.

As soon as he drew his blade, Tasmind rushed forward with her own Templarian sword and, with no mercy, slashed at Mikki, who was just fast enough to block the attack. Because he was at a square stance, he lost his balance and stumbled backward, leaving him unable to attack when his opponent was open.

Zed smacked his forehead when he noticed this mistake.

Mikki yelped and jumped to the side when a Lightening Shard ignited and just grazed his arm. He quickly scrabbled to his feet and ran a couple steps to avoid another swipe of Tasmind's sword, unfortunately losing his balance yet again and collapsing onto his back.

Tasmind charged and leapt in the air, ready to knock him out with the back of her blade to his head. He rolled back and kicked her in the stomach before she could get to him. Tasmind fell back, leaving Mikki with enough time to get back up and ready for the next round. Tasmind growled and reached for her Shard Caster's Mark, calling upon her Spirit.

Mikki gulped and dropped to one knee to reach for his Shard Caster's Mark when a bright light emitted from his Mark and shot into the sky. The light formed into a giant, armored knight. Mikki fell back onto his butt from the blast and glanced up at the Spirit. "S...Slaguna?" He jumped to his feet and stared at Slaguna in awe. "What's...going on?"

Slaguna turned his attention from Tasmind, who stopped at the sight of Mikki's face, realizing Slaguna wasn't supposed to appear because of the entrance it made. She was shocked to find that Slaguna didn't jump to attack her Spirit and, instead, looked at Mikki.

A moment passed and Slaguna brought up his hand. Mikki raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what Slaguna was about to do. Suddenly, Slaguna swiped his hand and smacked Mikki with such great force. Mikki was sent flying into the wall just outside the ring and collapsed into the water.

The crowd was silent in shock. Slaguna suddenly shown a bright white and disappeared into a small ball which dove into the water after Mikki.

"Mikki!" Zed cried, jumping into the ring and diving into the water. Roya gasped and made her way into the battle field after him. Zed broke the surface, gasping for air, and, with Mikki on his back, climbed onto the ring.

Noa, who had been watching from the audience with no intention of entering, rose from his seat to try and get a better look. _That's weird_, he thought to himself. _A Spirit has never attacked a Shard Caster that summoned them before. So, what made Slaguna attack Mikki?_

Roya reached for her Shard Caster's Mark and pulled out a Healing Shard. She brought it to Mikki's chest and waited for something to happen. "Wait, wait," Zed said, pushing Roya's hand away. He took a moment to recall the procedure Noa and his mother had taught him, then leaned forward and tried to do CPR.

After a moment, Mikki sputtered water out of his lungs and gasped for air. However, he was still unconscious. A medical team ran onto the scene and quickly took Mikki off the ring and towards the hospital. Zed and Roya exchanged unsure glances when a drop of water landed on Zed's nose.

He stared, cross-eyed, at where the drop had landed on his nose before rain began to fall into the joust. Everyone got up and ran off to find some form of protection. Roya and Zed rushed back into where the Shard Caster's would wait for their turn while the announcer called that the joust was canceled and would be restarted the next day.

"Zed!" Noa called, running to the couple as they exited the ring. They stopped when they met up. "What happened?"

Roya and Zed shrugged. "I don't know," Zed replied. "Slaguna just appeared and- BAM! Slammed Mikki into the wall and knocked him out."

Everyone exchanged worried glances. Thunder rolled and lightening flashed down the horizon. "Let's go see how he's doing," Roya suggested, despite that they had seen him five minutes ago.

No one objected and the trio rushed off towards the hospital.


End file.
